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Chronic ear health improving among NT kids

MARK COLVIN: Middle ear, or otitis media, is not just painful for the children who get it: it can stunt their development and stop them hearing in school classes.

It's now a decade since the World Health Organiszation found Australia's Indigenous people were the most likely in the world to have chronic otitis media.

But now, new data suggest that things are improving.

Tom Nightingale reports.

TOM NIGHTINGALE: The ear condition called otitis media is painful and it's potentially the cause of a difficult life.

A study of Northern Territory jails revealed 94 per cent of the Indigenous prisoners had a hearing problem.

Professor Amanda Leach is a researcher with the Menzies School of Health Research in the Northern Territory.

AMANDA LEACH: The children will hear speech as a whisper. A shout will be about normal speech. So it's a very muffled sound, like if you put your finger over your ear and block the canal. It's a muted sound.

AMANDA LEACH: So it's difficult for communication. Some children will then display behaviour abnormalities. They'll stop going to school. Their education is impacted and for Aboriginal children learning English as a second language, that's extremely challenging.

TOM NIGHTINGALE: Poor ear health was detected during the voluntary health checks of the Northern Territory Emergency Response, also known as the "Intervention".

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has just published its latest data.

FADWA AL-YAMAN: Of the ones who were examined over the last year, 72 per cent had some form of otitis media or middle-ear condition.

TOM NIGHTINGALE: Doctor Fadwa Al-Yaman is the report's author.

FADWA AL-YAMAN: And two thirds of these had hearing loss. So it's quite high. It's quite prevalent. And you can't, like, fix it in one go.

TOM NIGHTINGALE: It says a lot that today's new figures are being seen as an improvement.

Doctor al-Yaman says over six years, the rate of ear disease is dropping.

FADWA AL-YAMAN: We found reductions in the proportion of children with middle-ear condition or otitis media, and that was a quite significant reduction. We also found a reduction in hearing loss and we found a reduction in moderate, severe or profound hearing impairment. So there have been significant reductions.

However, some of this reductionů Usually kids, as they grow older, their ear disease usually decreases. So it can be a natural process of maturation of the ear. But some of it is also a result of, you know, the public health intervention and the medical intervention.

TOM NIGHTINGALE: So does this show that the ear health of children in the Northern Territory is improving?

FADWA AL-YAMAN: Yes. Yes, definitely.

TOM NIGHTINGALE: Professor Leach says poor ear health is just one symptom of bigger problems and she doesn't believe they are being dealt with.

AMANDA LEACH: To be honest, in remote communities, no. I don't think things are really improving. I think people are struggling massively across the board with mental health issues, with education, poor education outcomes, lack of employment, lack of self-esteem.

And they're fundamental issues and from everything that we're seeing, from our research at Menzies, across all divisions, would be that no: in the really big picture, things are not really improving.